Quote:
Originally Posted by serdar
P2
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Thank you for posting these pictures that much better show the patina of the item. Wonderful sword. The unusual details which confused me at first is the pommel where dussägge typically have pommels with rectangular pyramidical forms whereas this pommel is quite flattened so it almost forms an inverted pyramid. But I suppose it might offer a better grip for a big hand. Also dusägge often have more more pyramid shaped half basket guards whereas this sword has a more rectangular shaped guard, which is joined to the knuckle guard by an S shaped diagonal bar as is quite normal. I love the blade.
In statistics there is something called the Null hypothesis H0 which you then try to find sufficient evidence to reject. But failure to reject H0 doesnt necessarily mean its true. We could call H0 the hypothesis that a sword is genuine. The alternative hypothesis would be that its a fake. We would be hard pressed to know 100% a sword is genuine if we did not find it in an undisturbed tomb or castle or something like that. A Type I Error is when you reject the Null hypothesis when in fact its true. So this would be rejecting the sword as a fake when in fact its genuine. The cost would be missing out on acquiring a genuine sword. Ewart Oakeshott argued this is quite common for medieval swords where people write off swords with any unusual details. You can lower the odds or probability of doing this by acquiring a sword from an old respectable collection. You may not know for certain that its totally genuine but the probability is high and if the collection was published you know for certain that the sword was not produced by some crook yesterday at least. A Type II Error is when you buy the sword which is then fake, i.e. you fail to reject the alternative hypothesis that the sword is a fake. That could be a situation where you get hoodwinked by a disreputable dealer who tells you a tale. Your final decision would probably be influenced by degree of aversion to fakes, the condition of the sword, its provenance, and the price. If the price was right you might risk buying a sword with some uncertain provenance if its condition was attractive and you were not fanatic that the sword absolutely must be genuine. If the latter is of outmost importance you would be prepared to pay up for that certainty or accept relic items in poor condition.